Lisa Tawn Bergren’s new YA series, River of Time, is romantic, historical fiction in which the plucky heroine doesn’t have to fear a vampire’s bite but must still fight for her life.

In Waterfall, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in Fourteenth-Century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties. Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archaeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds… until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves catapulted into the Fourteenth Century and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.

I am seriously loving this book. It’s the first time I’ve read about a 17-year-old girl who spends more time trying to figure out what to do and not talking about the cute guy who will save her. At every opportunity, Gabi is trying to find her sister, kicking butt and saving lives. Even the mini-competition she has with another girl feel real.

She doesn’t travel back in time and then forgets that she is smart and doesn’t all of a sudden forget everything that her parents tried to teach her and start bumbling around like an idiot.

And although her Italian seems to flow out of her mouth, she doesn’t automatically speak their language and sometimes has trouble with using proper grammar. All those little subtle hints that she’s not quite where she belongs was jarring while I was reading the story, but in a good way. It kept reminding me that she was in a very dangerous situation and was adapting as best she could.

The bad guys were, of course, bad. And I have to say, Luca is by far my favorite good guy, even if Marcello is Gabi’s eye candy!

The semi-cliff hanger at the end was well done as well. It wrapped up the book nicely, but leaves the reader wanting to get to the next book fast, as in, go to Amazon and download it onto your Kindle, fast. (I’m not saying that’s what I did…but if I had, it was understandable, right?)

The adventure and storyline was so vivid and believable, I feel as though a good friend has told me story, hoping I’ll help. And I’m invested in discovering what happens next.

The second book: Cascade promises to be just as good if not better. I will review that once I’m done with it – since I did download it already!

Nice! Thanks for sharing. I’ll def. have to check this out. Love a good, spunky, historical fiction. To me, the historical setting is as intriguing an alternate universe as the fantastic. Did you find that the world was well built?